Taiwan suffers massive power cut, affecting millions of households (updated)

ChipMOS TECHNOLOGIES

16/08/2017 02:18

(Adds statements from TSMC, Pegatron) 
    By Jess Macy Yu 
    TAIPEI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan suffered a massive power 
blackout on Tuesday evening that hit businesses and residential 
homes, affecting close to seven million households on the 
heavily industrialised island amid sweltering heat. 
    The outage left millions of homes without power and hit 
offices and factories on the island of nearly 24 million people, 
but appeared to have a limited impact on businesses, including 
some of the world's leading technology manufacturers. 
    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC)  2330.TW , the 
world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple 
Inc  AAPL.O , said its operations were not affected, as did 
electronics manufacturer Pegatron Corp  4938.TW . 
    ChipMOS Technologies Inc  8150.TW  said the outage had not 
had a big impact on its operations. Its shares fell 2 percent in 
early trade, lagging a flat broader market  .TWII .  
    Power had been fully restored across the island by 
Wednesday, local media said. 
    Residents complained as temperatures hovered around 32 
degrees Celsius (89.6°F), while the blackout caused havoc as 
restaurants and small businesses were left without power, 
traffic lights stopped working and elevators stalled.  
    The power outage was caused by a human technical error at 
state-owned gas supplier CPC Corp that affected the operations 
of a state-owned Taiwan Power Co power plant in northwestern 
Taoyuan, the two companies said at a news conference on Tuesday 
evening.   
    Taiwan Power Co's outage at its Taoyuan plant caused six 
generators to stop working, resulting in a massive blackout 
across Taiwan, the company said.  
    President Tsai Ing-wen apologised on her Facebook page for 
the blackout, describing electricity supply as a national 
security issue. 
    Relevant government departments needed to quickly explain 
why a single event could cause such large damage across the 
country's electricity system, she said. 
    "We must reform the system. I will make this an important 
point for thorough inspection reforms in the future." 
    Taiwan's Minister of Economics Affairs Chih-Kung Lee had 
offered to resign over the incident, which was accepted by 
Premier Lin Chuan, the government said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nH9N1EP015   
    Lee's formal resignation letter was expected later this 
week, it said. If Lee steps down as expected, he will do so just 
over a year after assuming office.  
    CPC Corp said it accepted responsiblity for the outage and 
was investigating the cause. The blackout was the country's most 
severe since the 1999 Jiji earthquake, Taiwan Power Co said. 
     
 
 (Reporting by Jess Macy Yu; Additional reporting by Jeanny Kao, 
Liang-sa Loh, Faith Hung and Taiwan bureau; Editing by Anne 
Marie Roantree and Richard Pullin) 
 ((JessicaMacy.Yu@thomsonreuters.com; +886 2 2500-4882;)) 
 
Keywords: TAIWAN POWER/OUTAGES